On Oct. 23, S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook to stable from negative on Italy (unsolicited; BBB/Stable/A-2). The ratings on Italian insurer Società Cattolica di Assicurazione (Cattolica) are limited by the sovereign credit rating, due to Cattolica's high exposure to Italian government bonds. We believe the group's operating performance has so far proven resilient to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cattolica has also finalized a €300 million reserved capital increase from Generali, which will materially improve capitalization and regulatory Solvency (SII) ratios and consequently reduce deferral risk on Cattolica's hybrids. We are therefore revising our outlook on Cattolica to stable from negative, affirming our 'BBB' long-term issuer credit rating on the insurer, and raising our rating on Cattolica's hybrids instruments from 'BB'
